Live From Helsinki

I arrived today in Helsinki for the Eurovision Song Contest. It's a spectacle of a production, to be sure. The sheer scope of the thing is astounding. I arrived at the arena and was treated to a tour by Spectra's production manager Ola Melzig and production assistant Joan Lyman and ran into PR maven from the UK, Louise Stickland, who is also covering the production for several of her clients who have gear on the show.

The rig is absolutely massive, with 281 rigging points holding 98 tons of gear and covering most of the roof of Helsinki's Hartwall Arena. The FOH area alone looks like a technological war room, with a slew of MA Lighting grandMAs controlling various aspects of the visual production. More to come on that in my full feature in the July issue.

The view from just behind FOH position.

I'll be covering the show live while onsite through Sunday, so stay tuned. We're presently waiting on the second dress rehearsal of the day, with semi-finals broadcast tomorrow and finals Saturday. You can view it for yourself at Eurovision TV. Just launch the MediaCentre, and you can watch the stream live at these times: